pic: VexLABS Teaser Picture

[dlavery]

OOOhhhh! OOOOOhhhhhhH!!! OOOHHHH!!! Mr. Kotter! Mr. Kotter! I know! I know!!!!

('cause I saw it last weekend)

[mechanicalbrain]

Im curious what the wheel is but im more curious about whats behind it. Its at the right corner just behind the wheel.

[Conor Ryan]

i know i know *jumps up and down*
It's a robot!

actually, i'm pretty confident its swerve (crab) drive. But also a transmission is a possiblity, maybe something like that.

[Billfred]

Wait, I've got it. JVN has figured out how to mate the DeWalt XRP transmissions to a Vex setup. NBD just reached the next level.

[Rich Kressly]

Horshak is right. A bunch of us saw it, and driving it is pretty cool too as long as you stay under the speed limit

[Rabbit222]

I'm guessing.............crab drive

[Wetzel]

You guys make me want to get the DVD....


Wetzel

[artdutra04]

Well folks, this is a teaser no more... Enjoy
(These were all obtained on the vexlabs.com website)






But wait, it gets even better! See it in action!
swerve-slalom.wmv - 1.2 Mb
swerve-spin.wmv - 1.5 Mb

P.S. I also found some stuff about a "Tumbler" robot - See the following links for pics and video:
http://www.vexlabs.com/images/vex-ro...er-bot-700.gif
http://www.vexlabs.com/images/vex-ro...-bot-a-700.gif
http://www.vexlabs.com/images/vex-ro...t-side-700.gif
tumbler-box.wmv - 0.7 Mb
tumbler-climb.wmv - 1.3 Mb

[sanddrag]

Very cool. Thanks for the links. But I don't entirely get it. Are the grey wheels just super low traction or something so they can slide easily? Why not omniwheels? Maybe these grey ones give a smoother ride?

[Arefin Bari]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

Very cool. Thanks for the links. But I don't entirely get it. Are the grey wheels just super low traction or something so they can slide easily? Why not omniwheels? Maybe these grey ones give a smoother ride?

I spoke with John, it seems like the project goal was to make a swerve drive using 1 kit. They did add another servo to the kit but it works very nicely. Thats the reason they didn't use omni wheels. If you take the green tire off of the wheels, you will get that grey part. Its really smooth and slippery. They were made that way on purpose.

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by Arefin Bari

If you take the green tire off of the wheels, you will get that grey part. Its really smooth and slippery. They were made that way on purpose.

Thanks. Without actualy owning one, it is hard to know. It is good to have piece of information - knowing that you have selectable tread/traction.

I wonder if a 4 wheeled omni type robot could be made with only the slippery grey wheels. Would they have enough slip to allow holonomic movement?

[JVN]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

I wonder if a 4 wheeled omni type robot could be made with only the slippery grey wheels. Would they have enough slip to allow holonomic movement?

No.
Omni-wheels only work in a holonomic application if they have rolling traction, but not lateral traction.
These wheels have no traction in either direction.

[Michael Leicht]

what are the ports for the servos, and motors?

what are the controls that are used on this robot?